“Schindler’s List is perhaps the highest praised film of the last twenty years and one of the most heralded. Though Kubrick does have a valid point, I feel he’s missing the message of Schindler’s List. Spielberg’s story not only was about the Holocaust, but the redemption of a man. Oskar Schindler’s rescue of hundred of Jews is not only heroic and brave, but also touching to the audiences.”

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December 29, 1993: Show me the child of a war veteran and I’ll show you someone, at some time or another, compelled to look in-depth at the historical conflict that drew their parent in. It’s a given, at least for me. In my case that was World War II, the Pacific Theater campaign specifically. The enormous scale and scope of a world at war meant any study couldn’t stay in one area of action, though. With what occurred in Europe, sooner or later any leafing through history will force you to come to terms with slaughter unimaginable.

That being the mass murder of Jews under Nazi Germany during this period, aka The Holocaust. Even with the war’s wholesale destruction and loss of life across Europe and Asia, spanning the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the systematic and bureaucratic killing of approximately six million Jews by Hitler’s regime remains a shocking and sobering deed. Still difficult to fully comprehend, then and now.

When Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List was released in 1993 everyone I knew was fully aware of its content going in. And the film’s power to upset and move viewers. Back then, L.A.’s westside venues screened the film to packed houses throughout that first month. Especially on weekends. Many wrote or spoke out about their experience and its impact. So, it was during a weekday evening that my wife and I attended this at the AVCO Centre Cinemas (I’d pre-bought tickets).

To this day it remains one of the most searing and affecting movie experiences. For both of us. Ever since, every few years I’ll re-watch the film at home. It’s difficult for me to screen it more often than that. It would be because, almost twenty years later, the film’s lost none of its power.

The entire TMT series can be found here. If you’re interested how it’s put together, click here.

I love Schindler’s List although it is a difficult watch. But the difficulty lies in the power and potency of the film. It has an amazing ability to bring the truth of the Holocaust home. I also 100% agree that it’s a story about the redemption of a man.

This is one of the most heartbreaking films I’ve seen to date. I mean just hearing John William’s theme of Schindler’s List makes me tear up every single time as it conjures up the scenes from the film. Great TMT, Michael, as always!

I still recall the theater I saw this movie in as well. It was recently transformed into a retero theater and closed. The thing about this movie with me is that is so affected me that I have only watched it once, I am not sure if I have it in me to ever see it again, although I often have wanted to. It is easily one of my all time favorite movies.

Believe me, I understand your point. It took a lot to get me to pop in the VHS tape of this years ago and watch it at home. I think I told myself I could stop if it got to be too much. Thanks for sharing that, mummbles.

Well said, Michael. I didn’t get to see Schindler’s List until just a couple years ago, and it is still amazingly heartbreaking. I don’t think I could handle seeing it again, at least not for a long time.

i remember watching this for the first time. It wasn’t in a theater…it was in my living room about 5 years ago. so moving. I almost pressed the “stop” button on 3 separate parts but knew I had to finish it. so moving, so heartbreaking, so respectful, so touching. Spielberg really left a lasting impression and did it expertly.